The Bartlett Generation
by Starlight125
Summary: This is a story about the children of the Bartlett administration and all that they come with and deal with.
1. Tess and Evan

Tess and Evan walked down the hall outside her apartment hand in hand. Her long black coat was open revealing her knee length black dress. Evan was wearing a dark suit, and willingly following Tess as she dragged him down the hall to her apartment. They stopped at the door marked "A6."

"So this is where the divine Miss Therese lives!" Evan says as he moves her curly long brown hair out of the way to kiss her neck. As she unlocks the door she takes the keys out of the door, spins around and wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him as they back into her apartment and then drop their coats as their hands begin to roam. Before their coats hit the floor, an "Ahem!" comes from the room. Both Tess and Evan jump. Tess whirls around on her heels and sees two men sitting in her living room.

"Uncle Charlie, Uncle Toby. What are you doing here?" She says through a clenched jaw.

"Your father and god-father are looking for you," Toby replies getting up.

"And calling my cell phone is just too difficult for them?" Tess rants yelling.

"Well maybe," Toby starts ranting just as loud as Tess, "If you would give your god-father's detail your updated cell phone number WHEN YOU CHANGE IT we wouldn't have to make these visits."

While Toby and Tess rant at each other Charlie approaches Evan who is looking utterly bewildered. "You might want to sit down, this could last a while." As they move to the couch Charlie looks at him and smiles, "I'm Charlie by the way, Charles Young."

"I'm Evan, Evan Leahy. Did he say something about her god-father's detail?"

"Yeah."

"What did he mean by that?"

"Her god-father's security detail."

"Why would her god-father need security?"

"Don't you know who her god-father is?"

"No, why should I?"

"Uh-oh," Charlie looks at Toby, "Umm, Toby?"

Toby and Tess continue to argue over something benign.

"Toby! Tess! It is now time to call a truce over whatever you two are stupidly fighting over today."

"WHAT?" They both reply

"This young man doesn't know who Miss Therese's god-father is," Charlie says looking at Tess.

"He doesn't know who your GOD-FATHER IS?" Toby rages on at Tess

"I just haven't gotten around to talking about the family yet."

"Your family is a pretty hot topic of conversation."

"Yes it is, for the rest of the world, but for me? I have been in the position I am in since I was about 15 and I just wanted to date a guy who liked me first, and wasn't dating me for political gain!"

"Political gain?" Evan asked confused.

"Evan, my full name is Therese Abbigail Elizabeth Lyman-Moss. My father is the Chief of Staff for the President of the United States, my god father is Samuel Norman Seaborn, the President."


	2. His reaction

Author's Note: To those who are wondering... Tess' friend Evan was supposed to be Evan all the way through the story... and if you look now it should be fixed. Thanks for pointing that out kursk!

By the way I own nothing except the kids that you don't recognize.

* * *

"What does my god-father want?" Tess asks as she lets her boyfriend take in what was just said. 

"He wants you at the house, as soon as possible," Charlie answers.

"Do I need to pack?"

"For a few days, everyone is coming in. And we're probably going to end up in New Hampshire. Zoë, Liz, Ellie, and kids and the other husbands are already there," Charlie says as his eyes well up with tears.

"Is it bad?"

"We're not sure yet Tink," Toby responds as he sits down in the club chair in the living room. With the use of her baby name from her gruff Uncle Toby, Tess' eyes begin to well up with tears.

"Okay," Tess says as she walks off to her bed room, leaving Evan in the living room with Toby and Charlie.

Charlie smirks at the young man sitting wide eyed staring into the distance.

"Um, do you need a glass of water?" Charlie asks.

"No," Evan says waving Charlie off. "It's just that things are beginning to make sense."

"You're delusional, with that child," Toby says as he waves in the direction Tess went off in, "Nothing EVER makes sense. She's just like her parents in that way."

"No, I mean," Evan starts with a smile. "Last week we went to a café and were seated outside, and every now and then paparazzi would stop and take her picture, and I couldn't figure out why, I figured that it had something to due with the fact that we were wearing baseball caps and sunglasses, like an incognito look for a famous person. I never imagined that it was because she was famous. It must be scary being her."

"Yea, she and Ten tend to get their pictures taken when they go out together, and now the paparazzi tend to follow both of them. They don't like it but they have to deal with it," Toby says as he looks at his watch.

Tess finally emerges from her bed room. She looks at the three men around her and smiles weakly at Evan. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you," she says quietly.

"It's okay," Evan says as he looks at her. "It's not something I'd go waving around town."

"Yea," she says as he comes over and hugs her and then kisses her. "Thank you for understanding."

"No problem," he whispers into her hair. "Can I call you this week?"

"Yea, I'll have my cell phone, and if I need to give you another number I'll call you okay?"

"Yea."

As Evan leaves the apartment, Tess looks at Toby and Charlie.

"How bad is it?" she asks again.

"Bad, he can't move his arms," Toby says.

"And you're sure it's not like China, or Easter, or that summer?" Tess asks tentatively.

"No Tink," Charlie says pulling her into a hug and smoothing her hair. "It's bad, he's asking for us."

"Okay," she says with a sniffle. "Let's go."


	3. A mini family reunion

Charlie, Toby and Tess all rode in Charlie's suburban in silence. Tess stared out the window and occasionally sniffled and wiped at her face. Tess looked up and watched the back of her uncle's heads.

"Is Grandpa Jed going to be okay?" she whispered.

"I don't know," Toby said quietly shaking his head.

"Does Grandma Abbey know?"

"No one knows Tink," Charlie said as he drove on to the grounds of the White House and showed the proper ID for all of them.

As Charlie pulled up to the residence and stopped Tess ran out of the car and into her god-father's home. As she bounded up the stairs she ran into the arms of her older sister.

"Joanie," Tess sobbed, "Tell me he's going to be okay! Tell me he'll be fine."

"Tink," Joanie whispered into her hair. "You know we can't, we can't promise that."

"Tess? Tinkerbelle?" Josh calls as he runs toward her.

"Daddy, he can't die," Tess sobs, "he can't."

"I know baby," he responds as he hugs her and strokes her hair.

Donna enters and begins to tear up at the sight before her. Her oldest daughter, Joanie, standing with her husband, Brad, who is holding their sleeping daughter, Torrie, and her husband holding their youngest, their baby, Tess, all of them either crying or with a tear stained face trying not to start again. As Donna takes in this sight, Ainsley and Sam enter from behind her.

"She's here?" Ainsley asks, before she can see the scene in front of Donna.

"Yea," Donna whispers.

Sam enters and kisses both Donna and Ainsley on the cheek as he walks into the room and Tenley and Chris enter behind them.

"Are we ready to go?" Sam asks quietly as he wraps his arm around Ainsley's shoulders.

"Where is everybody else?" Tess asks as she pulls out of the hug that her father has had her in since he entered the room.

"They're meeting us at the Manchester house," Chris answers as he wraps his baby sister in his arms.

"Noah and Chelle?"

"And Chrissie and Joey, and Leo and Margaret, and CJ and Zoë and everyone, they'll all be there," Toby says as they walk down the stairs to waiting suburbans that will take them to Andrew's and Air Force One.

"Carley and Huck and Vince are meeting us at the base," Toby reminds Sam as they walk outside and into the cars.

All of them climb in and ride in silence. The eleven of them had split between the three suburbans. Sam, Ainsley, and Toby in one; Josh, Donna, Tess, and Charlie in the second; and Brad, Torrie, Joanie, Tenley and Chris in the third. With the police escort they arrive quickly at Andrew's for their flight to Manchester. Tess waits outside the plane for Huck and his partner Vince and Carley, her best friend, to show up. As the fourth suburban pulls up to next to the plane, Huck, Vince and Carley pile out of the suburban. Huck and Vince kiss Tess on the cheek as they pass her. Carley and Tess hug to greet each other. They wrap their arms around each other shoulders as they walk up the stairs to the airplane.

As they settle in for the flight everyone sits in the same area of the plane, nearly afraid to let each other out of sight. Tess and Carley curl up in two seats across from each other and stare out the window into the night as they take off and quickly pass over the east coast. Donna, Josh, Ainsley, Sam, Charlie and Toby all sit on the other side of the cabin and watch the girls as they drift off to sleep.

"They're scared," Toby says as he watches the girls fall off to sleep.

"We all are," Sam says quietly.

Huck, Vince, Chris, Tenley, Joanie and Brad all sit together between their parents and the "little" girls they all consider their little sisters, whether biologically or just of the heart.

All of them started thinking about the man they were going to see. The man who's funeral they had packed for. They all began to think of the impact, Josiah Bartlett, the former President of the United States had had on their lives.


	4. Contemplation

Author's Note: Thank you to all who reviewed. And I fixed the Paul/Evan thing in the first chapter! Please continue with the reviews!

* * *

The children of the members of the Bartlett Administration, including Huck and Molly, can not remember a time before him, because in their lives there was no one before him. The Lyman-Moss children were already grandfather-less when they arrived. Their father's father had died during Bartlett's first race for the Presidency, and their mother's father died two weeks after Donna had announced she was pregnant with Noah James, the boy named for the two missing men in his parent's lives. So Jed Bartlett became the grandfather to not only Noah but he three children that followed. Joanie was born two years later and Chris two years after that, then after four years Tess, or Tinkerbelle as the family calls her, came bursting into the world and her adoptive grandfather's heart. He had always said that he saw all the reason that he had hired both of her parents so many years before.

The Seaborn-Hayes family, both children, Carter and Tenley, were all the quiet intelligence of their parents and claimed the same the part of his heart their parents held.

Carley Cregg-Ziegler was the youngest of the five children of Toby Ziegler and the CJ Cregg's baby girl of her three. She, along with her brothers and her father's twins Huck and Molly were the tenacious precocious loveable loudmouths that their parents were.

The twins, Andrew and Paige, of Jed's best friend and his former assistant were the part of the puzzle that helped the group finds the reality in the craziness that they end up in.

There were the three Bartlett girls, had all blessed the Bartletts with five biological grandchildren who loved and were loved their grand parents as much as the other parts of the Bartlett Generation. And being that the kids were now grown up, Carley and Tess were the babies and they were already twenty-one, seniors in college, there were now great-grand babies that had been dawdled on the knee of a former First Lady and President. Annie, Liz's daughter was now dealing with two of her own teenagers, Sarah and David, 19 and 15. Gus, the little boy Donna remembered being scared of the crowd at the Christmas tree lighting as a child, now had teenagers himself, Jack and Bobby, were 16 and 14 and Caroline was now 12. Ellie had finally married a doctor making herself a mother only once, but her son Wyatt made up for it 12 fold with all the trouble he either caused or brought on himself, Wyatt, who was 27 now, was married with a two year old, Clara, who captured her grandmother's revenge for her in the headaches she was giving her father already. And Zoë had listened to her father and married Charlie Young, and their three children, JT (29), Emma (27) and Lauren (25) all had grown up and though JT and Emma were married, to Leah and Sean, respectively, no grandchildren had been produced due to the fact that all three of the Bartlett-Young children were pursuing some form of higher education, JT and Lauren were medical students and Emma was working to become a lawyer.

All of the children that had come out of the Bartlett administration were blossoming into amazing adults, but as their Grandpa Jed had fallen ill all had crumbled into the children they once were. What would they do without him?


	5. The Talk

As the limos had pulled up to the Manchester house, they could all see that the house was still up. All the lights were on and as they climbed out of the cars they stood side by side looking up at the house remembering all the good times they had had there in the past. Slowly they took their bags and walked into the house where Abbey, Zoë, and Liz were waiting in the foyer.

"Grandma Abbey," Tess and Carley said simultaneously as they rushed to hug the woman they had known their entire lives.

"Oh girls, you two look beautiful!" Abbey said as the tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, as she looked at the two girls that she remembered holding as newborns. They looked back at her and she smiled at them sadly.

"Your Grandpa Jed wants to see the two of you as soon as you got here."

"Okay," Carley said, as Abbey wrapped her arms around the two of them and began to lead them down the hall toward the study that had become her husband's bedroom in the past few weeks. When they reached the door she knocked and as she pushed the door open called into the room, "Jed? There are two beautiful college girls here for you!"

Tess let a small smile appear as she looked at the bed where her Grandpa Jed lay so helpless and looking so small, not at all like the man that taught her how to swim, or watched her ride a horse, or told her to find an economist husband cause those were the best ones.

"Oh if it isn't the terrible two!" Jed said with a smile as Abbey lifted the head of his bed so he was sitting up.

"Grandpa Jed," Carley said as she sat on the edge of his bed. Tess looked on from the middle of the floor scared to get to close to the old man.

"Therese, I thought this was explained to you when you were six, Multiple Sclerosis is not contagious," the former President joked as Tess stepped closer to the bed.

"I don't want to hurt you," she said as she let the tears climb in her eyes.

"I can't feel anything below my rib cage, Therese Sophia Grace. You won't hurt me."

Tess stepped closer and sat on the opposite edge of the bed as Carley.

"Now you two, I need to tell you something," Jed said taking each of their hands and stroking it with his. "I'm not going to be around much longer, and I want you two to know that I love you with all my heart. You guys are no less my grandchildren then Annie and Gus and Wyatt and JT and Emma and Lauren, okay?"

The two girls sniffled and nodded.

"Tess, there are going to be a lot of eulogies given for me at my funeral, and I want you to give one of them, Abbey knows this and she understands my choice for this. Carley you are to go up there with Miss Therese, because we both know that she can't get through anything without crying and she'll need you up there with her."

"Okay, Grandpa Jed," the girls say in unison.

"Okay, lighter topics, Miss Therese I hear that there is a new man in your life."

"Yea," Tess says blushing.

"Did he come with you?"

"No, I just told him who my father and god-father are."

"Tess…" the former President takes on his warning voice.

"I know… and I would have told him sooner but I was worried about the reaction to the family that most people have, I wanted normality," Tess states in a half whiny tone.

"Normal is over rated."

"Yea, yea, any way he's not vetted yet."

"He will be by tomorrow."

"What?"

"I need to meet this guy," Jed says with a tired smile, "I want him to pass the "me" test, to see if he is worthy enough for you."

"He survived a Tess and Toby fight, I think he's worthy," a voice says from the door.

"NOAH!" Tess says as she jumps off the bed and runs to her brother.

"Tink!" Noah responds as he opens his arms to a hug from his baby sister.

"Noah James, get your butt over here," Carley says as Noah releases his sister and wraps Carley up in a hug before releasing her and leaning over the bed and hugging his surrogate grandfather.

"Grandpa Jed," Noah says quietly as he takes in the frailty of the man he has adored his entire life.

"How did you know about the fight?" Tess asks.

"Charlie was raving about this guy, Evan Leahy, and how he just watched completely amused while his girlfriend and some man argued over the stupid things like why she didn't give her new cell phone number to her god-father's security detail," Noah says pointedly.

"Look! Mom had it! She was supposed to give it to Dad, and she probably did and he just lost it!"

"Probably," Noah concedes as he kisses his grandfather's cheek.

"Where is your wife?" Jed asks staring down Noah.

"Outside, Chrissie and Joey were sleeping in the car, and Zoë went out to help her and sent me inside, telling me that the three of you were in here," Noah stopped as he watched the smile creep along his grandfather's face, "It started to snow."

"It does that a lot here. We are in New Hampshire," Jed says letting his smile grow.

"Snow…" Carley says slowly. "Does that mean that everyone won't be able to get here because…"

"Everyone is already here, apparently an executive order can get people on a plane as soon as possible," Noah said gently chuckling.

"God all of you look like your parents," Jed says looking between the three young adults before him.

"What?" Carley asks.

"You look like your mother Miss Cregg-Ziegler but with your father's eyes. Tess over here looks like her mother except she has her father's hair, the bane of his existence, those beautiful curls. And Noah, you look at him and see the exact opposite of Tess but you can tell your family because you both have your mother's eyes, but you have your mother's hair and your father's features," Jed says amazed.

"Thank you," Tess says quietly, trying not to cry again.

"I think there is a line forming outside this door to speak to you," Noah says as each of the three take their turns hugging Jed and as they walk out the door, Jed calls "Noah, get your father, and your Uncles Sam and Toby in here!"


	6. The Dads

The three men that the president had asked for entered the room and looked at him with quiet desperation as they approached him.

"My men of men!" their former boss crows as he looks at the three men he remembers as pranksters and hard workers as they approach him.

"Hello Jed," Sam says as he sits in a chair next to his bed, Josh takes up the space in the window seat of the room, right next to the bed as he watches the snow fall, and Toby takes his stance pacing at the foot of the bed.

"Toby, I heard you and Charlie had to pull Tess away from her boyfriend this evening?" Jed says with a smile.

"Yea, she had a distinct difficulty leaving that boy," Toby says with a small smile.

"What do you think of him?" Josh asks.

"He seemed like a stand up guy, he was honest and shocked when she revealed the truth about you and Sam to him. He said that there was a paparazzi picture taken last week," Toby said.

"Yea, they've been following her to see if she'll lead them to Ten," Sam said.

"I hate them," Josh said rubbing his face in his hands, "I hate the fact that they follow two of my kids around."

"Any way, forget the paparazzi," Jed says as he rolls his eyes at Josh's response to the people that follow his daughter around. "I want to meet this boyfriend of her's, he seems like a stand up guy and I want to meet him before anything…"

"You're not going to die," Sam says as he stands up and walks to Josh.

"Sam…" Jed says warningly, knowing that only he and Abbey are the only people that can take that tone with the current President. "I am going to die, and sooner rather then later, and I want to meet this boy that Toby and Charlie had to pull Tess away from before I go, I want to make sure he's good for her."

Josh smiles knowing that former President Bartlett is right. "We'll get him vetted," is his only response.

"Good, now I need to sleep so leave me you crazy guys."

"Good night Jed," all three say in unison as they walk out of the room, hoping that their former boss would make it through the night.


	7. The Miracle baby

Tess walked out to the front porch, and she wandered around and settled on a porch swing and takes her cell phone out of her pocket. She leans over and grabs a fleece blanket and wraps her self in it, and settles herself on the swing. She turns the cell phone over in her hands as if she's deciding whether to use it or throw it over the railing into the growing snow bank that has settled against the porch. She finally opens it and dials. She curls tighter while she's waiting for the ringing to stop to hear a voice.

"Hello?" Evan says from the other end of the phone line.

"Evan?" she says shakily.

"Tess," he sighs, "What's up baby?"

"My grandfather wants to meet you."

"Your grandfather?" he asks slightly confused.

"Yeah."

"When you say that, when you say grandfather, who are you referring to?"

"My Grandpa Jed."

"Jed, as in Jed Bartlett?"

"Yea," she whispers with a smile on her face.

"Former President Bartlett?"

"Yes, he wants to meet the boy who's captured my heart," Tess says as her eyes tear.

"I've captured your heart?"

"Yes, you have"

"Good, because you've had mine since day one."

Tess gently laughs as the tears that had collected in her eyes fall.

"There will be a ticket waiting for you at Regan National for the six a.m. flight tomorrow morning to Manchester, there will be a car waiting for you at the airport to bring you here."

"Okay, I love you Tess," he says sincerely.

"I love you too Evan."

"I'll see you tomorrow"

"Good night," she whispers.

"Night baby."

She shuts her phone, takes a deep breath and begins to sob as she clutches her knees to her he chest .

"Oh Tess," Leo says from the doorway.

"Uncle Leo," she says as she wipes at her face.

"I hate to see you cry."

"Yea well…."

"It took us so long to hear that sound the day you were born, I can't stand to think you're hurt now."

"Oh yea?"

"I remember the day you were born," Leo says as he sits next to her on the swing.

"What about it?" Tess asks as she readjusts to give him part of the blanket.

"You gave us a major care that day, Tinkerbelle."

"What?"

"You know this."

"Tell me again."

"It was May 7th, and we were all here for Carley's baptism, because all of the Catholics in this family were baptized at Saint Vincent's," he began as Tess settled her head against his shoulder. "Any way, so here we are and your mother is eight months pregnant, and standing doing dishes at the sink, and Carley is cranky because she just had water dumped on her head. So Carley is like three months old and everyone else was between four and nineteen. And your mother is at the sink and all of a sudden she takes a sharp breath and winces and her water breaks. So your mother is all of a sudden in active labor, and after how fast Chris came we knew we didn't have time to get her to the hospital, so Ellie and Abbey bring her into the backroom and check her dilation or something and all we hear is Abbey yelling "Crowning!" and Ellie yelling for someone to get towels and for your father to get his ass in there to be with your mother. And then nothing, for a moment we all freeze and then we hear your mother moan and grunt and nothing again. Charlie bursts into the room with towels and Ellie is dealing with Donna and Josh is holding her hand and looking helplessly at Abbey, he said, "Help her Abbey!" And as the door opens again it gets stuck on the rug the way it still does, and we can see Abbey holding you and rubbing and tapping your back trying to get you to breathe, you were turning purple and scaring all of us to death, but Abbey was murmuring something in your ear. I had no idea what it was, but CJ and Jed and Liz and Zoë and Annie and Gus all did. They started saying the Hail Mary with her. And all of a sudden Carley cried out. And you jumped in Abbey's arms and you started to cry. You were with us. Doug had called 911 and I remember him standing next to me and nearly laughing "She's okay, she's breathing!" You were our miracle, Therese." Leo says kissing her forehead.

"You think we'll get another one?" Tess asks turning to look at the older man.

Looking dead in her eyes he says, "It's been 21 years Tess, we're due one."


	8. And Evan arrives

The night came and went and now Tess was sitting on the porch stairs with Tenley.

"I don't know what to do Tess," Tenley sighed as she sat next to Tess handing her a coffee cup.

"About what?" Tess said as she settled on the stairs with her gloves and hoodie on.

"My name, this is getting more and more complicated."

"What are you talking about Ten?"

"Well, my full last name right now is Seaborn hyphen Hayes space Moss hyphen Lyman."

"What about if you both were Seaborn-Moss?"

"Don't you think two parents would have a problem with that?"

"I wouldn't want to see the eruption that would happen with my dad and your mom."

"Exactly"

"You could be Mister and Missus, Christopher and Tenley, Seamoss-Hayman.

"You need to stop that now," Tenley says warning her jokingly.

"It works! All four parents are happy! Everyone has part in the name," Tess says trying to keep a straight face.

"I'll run it by Chris," Tenley responds as she lets it sit for a moment. "I've missed you Tess."

"You've been a little bit busy with my brother."

"But that shouldn't ruin our friendship."

"You fell for my big brother, it doesn't ruin anything, it does change things though, whether we want it to or not."

"Yea I guess"

"We need to shop soon."

"Yea, when everything gets back two what ever normal is after this you me and Carley should go shopping and to CakeLove, that's supposed to be amazing. It could be like old times."

"Yea," Tenley says, hoping normal is what normal was two days ago.

They sit in a comfortable silence for a moment.

"There's the car," Tenley says as she stands up and dusts herself off. "Are you sure you want me to be out here?"

"Yea, you're good, hell you're one of the most normal people here."

"Yea, I guess," Tenley says with disbelief as the car pulls up and the driver gets out and opens the door for Evan. He climbs out of the car and wraps Tess in a hug as his bag is handed to him.

"Thank you," he says to the driver.

"Thank you for coming," Tess says as he lets her go to take his bag.

"You wanted me to be here, that's all that mattered," he says looking sincerely into her eyes.

"Okay," Tess says turning to Tenley. "First thing's first. This is a huge family. I'm going to introduce people as we go."

"Okay," Evan says with a smile.

"This is Tenley Seaborn-Hayes Lyman-Moss, she is my sister-in-law because of Christopher."

"You're Ten? The first daughter?"

"Right," Tenley says as she offers her hand to him.

"I'm Evan Leahy."

"Pleasure to meet you."

"It's all mine," he says as he gives her a hug.

The three of them walk up to the porch and then to the front door. Evan puts his hand in Tess' and stops at the door.

"How many is big Tess?" he asks as her hand goes to the door.

"Um, about 58 people," Tess answers.

"Okay then," he says as he nod his head.

They enter the house in a rare moment of quiet. But as the door shuts Sam comes charging down the stairs, with a book in hand. He stops and kisses the girls on the cheek and then he smiles at Evan.

"You must be Evan!" he says.

Evan's eyes go wide and he stammers out "Um, yeah, uh, I mean yes sir."

"No sir, not around here," Sam laughs. "No one goes by sir around here! Not even Jed"

"Right," Evan says as he still stands in awe of the man in front of him.

"Just call me Sam, and welcome," he says as he walks off to the library.

"Tess that was the President!" he says.

Tenley laughs, "No that was just Dad."

"Okay," he says taking it all in.

Tess looks at him and smiles. "Are you hungry?" she asks him.

"Yea, there was no breakfast on the plane."

"Okay," Evan says hesitantly.

"I'm going to go get my husband out of bed," Tenley says quickly, "I'll see you two later." With that she scampers upstairs.

Tess leads Evan to the kitchen she opens the door to find her mom, CJ, Toby, Annie, Molly and Liam, with Abbey showing Allie, Tina, and Clara how to make pancakes.

"And then you add a little sugar to the pan, and then what?" Abbey asks.

"The goo in the pan!" Allie yells.

"Yes and then what?"

"The sugar on top!" Tina calls.

"What happens next, Clara?"

"Wait and then flip!" Clara calls jumping to emphasize flip.

"Yes! You girls are smarter then any of your parents at picking up on this!"

Evan and Tess take in this scene and Donna sees them first and goes over to them.

"Evan, this is my mother, Donnatella Moss-Lyman," Tess says.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Moss-Lyman," Evan says to Donna

"The pleasure is mine, but, please, call me Donna," Donna replies.

"Okay, everyone!' Tess says to the room as they turn to her she smiles and places a hand on Evan's chest, "this is Evan, my boyfriend. Evan this is my Aunts CJ and Annie, You remember my Uncle Toby. This is his daughter and son-in-law, Molly and Liam Ziegler-Williams, and Margaret McGarry. Over here is Allie Ziegler-Williams, and Tina Nichols, and Clara Wilson, and of course, my Grandma Abbey, Abbey Bartlett."

"You look like you could use some pancakes!" Abbey says to Evan.

"Yes Dr. Bartlett," Evan responds.

"Oh my dear boy, none of us use those pesky titles anymore, please call me Abbey."

"Okay," Evan responds nervously as he sits at the table.

"So Evan what do you do?" CJ asks.

"Um, I'm a graduate assistant in the career center of the university I attended."

"And what would that be?" Toby asks.

"Mount Saint Mary's University, sir," Evan responds.

"Don't call him sir, Evan, it goes to his head," CJ chides him as Tina and Clara bring the pancakes to the table for him.

"Thank you, Clara. Thank you Tina." He says as they hand him the plate.

He takes a bite, and CJ turns to him and smiles.

"Isn't Mount Saint Mary's near Camp David?"

"Yes, it is."

"It's a Catholic college, right?" Abbey asks as she sits down at the table next to Evan opposite Tess.

"Oh for Pete's sake will you please stop integrating him? You all know where it is! I go there! You've all been there!" Tess says as she rolls her eyes.

"We were only having fun with him Tess," CJ says as she laughs and leans against Toby.

"These are wonderful pancakes ladies," Evan says as he looks from Abbey to Allie, Tina and Clara who have settled in to their parent's laps. Donna beams at him and Tess from the other end of the table. All she ever needed was for Tess to be happy with a non-gomer and this guy was as non-gomer as they come. As they all settle into their breakfasts the door swings open and Josh, Charlie, Doug, Mitch and Nick all enter huffing and puffing followed quickly by Noah, Brad, Carter, Andrew, and JT laughing and joking around and carrying a basketball and Joey is running around their legs smiling and laughing. Abbey laughs and Donna looks up and shakes her head and opens her arms and lap to Joey who more than accepts his grandmother's offer.

"Water," Charlie gasps.

"Have you ever thought that you all are too old to play basketball with the kids?" CJ admonishes the older men as the younger men look sheepish. "And have you guys ever thought about going easy on those old men?"

Toby looks smugly at Josh and Charlie, "Think about how your feeling right now." He looks smugly into his coffee cup as he takes a sip. "That feeling is why I don't play these boys anymore."

Everyone laughs until Josh and Noah notice the young man sitting between Tess and Abbey. They nudge all the other men until their staring Evan down. Tess notices what's going on.

"Nuh-uh," Charlie says as Josh nudges him, "I already met him, I like him."

Tess' head snaps up and she stares down her father.

"Daddy, stop it!" she says.

"Why don't you introduce us to your friend Therese?" Noah says with a smirk.

"Trouble maker," Tess mumbles as she turns and smiles at Evan, "Men of men, this is Evan, I love him be nice." Josh smiles sheepishly at his daughter as she continues, "Evan this is my father, Josh, you remember my Uncle Charlie, this is Doug, Annie's dad, his son-in-law, Mitch, Nick, Ellie's husband, this is my eldest brother, Noah, my brother-in-law, Brad, Carter Seaborn-Hayes, Andrew, Margaret's son, and JT, Charlie's son," Tess finished with a smile.

Andrew tosses the ball at Evan, "You play?"

"Yea," he says tossing it back at Evan.

"We'll see your talents on the courts later?"

"Sure."

"Awesome," Andrew says as he begins to walk out of the kitchen. He turns around and smiles at the group. "I get the boy's shower!" He says as he races away. The other younger contingent of the group follows his lead and race out of the kitchen.

Margaret shakes her head as the older men take seats around the kitchen table.

"No matter how old they are, when they get together they act like teenagers," she says as she pushes herself up from the table. "I am going to see if Leo wants breakfast, is there anything I can bring Jed, Abbey?"

"No, he already ate this morning."

"Okay, I'll go drag Leo away," Margaret said as she leaves the room.

As they sit there the rest of the family comes in and begins filling their plates, next through the door from the direction of the bedrooms are Paige and Lou, and Huck and Vinnie. Then through the back door comes, Carley, Jen, Zoë, Emma and Lauren from riding. Everyone begins to hunker down and Tess stands up to help with the dishes as everyone introduces themselves to Evan. Evan begins to clear the table of the empty plates. He kisses Tess on the cheek and leans in and whispers, "Once we're done here can we go for a walk to see if I've got this straight?"

Tess giggles, "Five minutes."

"Thanks."


	9. Review Session

Evan and Tess escape from the house and begin walking towards the stables.

"This place is like a resort," he says as he takes her hand and they stroll along.

"Yea, something like that," Tess responds looking at him sideways.

"Okay let me see if I got this straight. Your mom is Donna, who was at the table with coffee when we came in, and your dad is Josh who came in from basketball, your brother Noah is the one who was playing basketball with your dad, he's married to Michelle who was the one who was very pregnant and came in as we were leaving, they already have a set of twins, Tina and Joey, Tina is the one who was making pancakes with Abbey, and Joey came in with him. Joanie is the one who came in with her little girl Victoria, and she is married to Brad who was playing basketball as well, and then there is Christopher who came in with Tenley who I met on the steps waiting for me. Right?"

"So far so good," Tess laughs as she smiles at him.

"Okay then, Sam is the… well President, and Ainsley is the first lady who I met in the kitchen getting coffee, and they have Tenley who is married to your brother Chris, and Carter who was playing basketball and he's married to Gennie who came down with Mira and Steven, Mira was three and helped with the dishes and Steven sat in his mother's lap."

"So you've got the Moss-Lymans and the Seaborn-Hayes. Next?"

"Right, so then Toby was the one you were fighting with two nights ago. And he's married to CJ the woman who he was sitting with in the kitchen. They have Carley, your best friend, the one who is in all the pictures in your apartment and came in with Jen, her sister-in-law because she's married to Michael, who came in with Julie their two year old fresh from her bath. And Ben is their son who came in with his wife Nora, and then Huck, who is Toby's son but not CJ's, came in with his partner Vinnie and Huck's twin sister Molly was already at the table with her husband Liam."

As Tess went to open her mouth Evan cuts her off, "Wait I'm on a roll. Charlie I also met earlier this week, he's married to Zoë, and they have JT another one of the basketball guys and he's married to Leah who was the other pregnant one, much less pregnant then Michelle, and his sisters are Emma , who was riding, and who is married to Sean and he came in and had obviously just woken up, and the other Bartlett-Young sister is Lauren who was also riding. Then there is Lizzie and Doug, one of the older men playing basketball, and Lizzie came in from the garage. Their kids are Annie who is married to Mitch and have Sarah and David, who came in the kitchen with their grandmother and their cousin Caroline, who is Gus only daughter, Gus being Lizzie and Doug's son, who is married to Marie, who was I met in the foyer waiting for you to get this coat and gloves, and there are two older boys in that family, Jack and Bobby, who were begrudgingly following their mother down the stairs. The other Bartlett sister is Ellie, who married Nick, who was playing basketball, came in with her sister from the garage, and her son Wyatt was the one who I ran into when I came back from the bathroom, and by that point Denise was in the kitchen cleaning up with you and Clara was making the pancakes, she was the jumper on the word flip. Abbey is Lizzie, Ellie and Zoë's mother and is married to former President Bartlett who I will meet later?"

"Yes, and so far so good."

"Okay then there's Margaret, who was in the kitchen with your mom and everyone having coffee when we came in, and then her daughter Paige who came in with Lou who came in with Huck and Vinnie, her husband as we started the dishes, and Andrew who was the one with the basketball and the one who raced to the shower. Who's her husband?"

"Leo, he was with Grandpa Jed, you'll meet him later and that's everyone."

"That's a big family," Evan says as he wraps his arms around her as the look at the lake.

"Fifty-eight people," Tess said as she leaned her head back against his chest.

And as they stood there all Evan could think was, 'Is there room for one more?'


	10. Evan and Jed

"So what about this boy?" Jed asks Leo staring him down from his bed.

"I don't know," Leo says as he pulls a book off the shelf. "I've been avoiding the situation all day."

"Why? I need dirt and you know Abbey doesn't like to make snap judgments, well at least not on this kid." Jed sighed he wished more then life he could be out with the rest of them in the house.

"How are you feeling?" Leo said swiftly changing the subject and trying to find a certain page in the book in his hand.

"Better, I can feel my waist again."

"You know sometimes I think you do this when you want to see us all together," Leo said smugly as he snapped the book shut and put it back on the shelf.

"Yes, you figured me out. While I let everyone cry, panic and fret over me, because we both know how much I enjoy that, I do it so I can secretly enjoy all of you out there while you and Abbey stick me in here, while the women cry over my impending death."

"You always were a sick and twisted old man."

"Something like that," Jed says as there is a knock at the door of the study.

"Come in and get this old man out of my sight!" Jed calls. The door creeps open revealing Tess and Evan.

"Hey," Tess says quietly as she lets Leo kiss her cheek. "Uncle Leo, Grandpa Jed, this is Evan Leahy, my boyfriend," Tess says smiling up at Evan.

"Right," Leo says as he extends his hand toward the Evan. Evan takes it and shakes the man's hand firmly.

"Good hand shake," Leo comments as he continues to stare Evan down.

"Yes, you two leave us," Jed says pointing from Leo and Tess to the door.

"What?" Tess asks stunned that her Grandpa Jed was going to make her leave.

"Please, Therese I need to speak to him alone," Jed responds. Both Tess and Leo walk out the door. Evan stands nervously in the middle of the room. Jed looks at him and points to the chair next to his bed.

"You," he booms, "sit."

"Hello, sir," Evan says as he sits down as he was told to.

"No sir stuff. I'm just Jed."

"No offence Jed, but I think you will never be just anyone."

"Touché."

"So what do you want to know?" Evan asks beginning to relax. "Full name, birthday, mother's maiden name?" Evan asks with a laugh.

"Evan Michael Patrick Leahy, August 17th 2012, and Barrington," Jed responds.

Evan looks at him dumbfounded.

"Remember the President is here, we just wanted some basic information, we got it."

"Right."

"So what do you think of my honorary granddaughter?"

"That she is utterly amazing, I can't imagine my life, my future, without her."

"Really?"

Evan nods, "I talked to her dad today."

"About what?"

"Asking her to marry me."

"What did Joshua say?"

"That I had to ask you."

"Are you prepared to make her happy?"

"Yes I would do what ever it takes." There is a long pause as Jed looks at Evan trying to formulate a question to trip him up. Evan finally gets the courage to speak again and asks, "I don't mean to be rude, but, what is my shibboleth for this?"

"You're good," Jed says with a laugh

"I'm sorry?"

"You son are the full package and are exactly what Tess needs. Smart, funny, sincere. You are the real deal."

"Thank you Jed."

"And I say yes, I believe we'd be honored to have you as part of this family."

"Thank you."

"Now I want you to do this now, so you get me in that wheel chair and we can go get this done."


	11. A Question and Answer

Author's note: This is just to say a) I still own nothing that is truly West Wing, b) the song in here that Tess is singing is "Rock It 'Til You Drop It," by Fefe Dobson c) thanks for the reviews please keep them coming.

Tess is standing in the living room watching her dad sing.

"… Not easy to be meeee," he croons as all the women giggle and the boys cheer.

"Tinkerbelle it is your turn!" Sam says as he changes the CD.

"I don't sing, Uncle Sam," she says with a chuckle, "You know that!"

"It slipped my mind, the song is ready!" he says ignoring Tess' response to what he has done. "I will invoke an Executive Order Tess, you are singing."

"Gimme that!" she says as she crosses the floor to the karaoke machine. She rolls her eyes as she sees the song that is being played.

"C'mon now! Rock it till you drop it

Mmmm

Rock it till you drop it  
you know what I'm sayin" the song track says.

"When you're walkin walkin, your body's talkin to me...  
but your mouth ain't makin a sound.  
When I'm stalkin stalkin, I can feel my body rockin  
with all these feelings I've found.  
It's in the way that he moves,  
It's in the way that he likes the things I do.   
It's in the way that he groves...  
You know I love it when he takes me dancing.  
I never waited for that special one;  
I thought I'd settle for a setting sun.   
Tonight's the night we get this party on...  
And on, and on, and on and on and on," Tess croons.

"C'mon now Rock it till you drop it, hey..." the track croons back.

"And I'm takin takin,  
as you hit that tricky rhythm;  
you take me out on the floor.  
I've been itchin itchin,  
for the jive that you've been drippin...  
and you got me wantin more." Tess croons again; she starts getting into it and turns to CJ who dissolves in giggles as she sings right to here. As Evan wheels Jed into the living room. He sneaks around the room to behind where Tess has been singing and stands there and as she turns around she give him the biggest smile and begins singing to him.

"It's in the way that he moves,  
It's in the way that he likes the things I do.  
It's in the way that he groves...  
You know I love it when he takes me dancing  
I never waited for that special one,   
I thought I'd settle for a setting sun.  
Tonight's the night we get this party on...  
And on, and on, and on and on and on." She continues as she dances with Evan and his hands sit on her hips, and they dance around with him dipping her and twirling her around.

"C'mon now  
Rock it till you drop it,  
You know what I'm sayin." The track continues as Evan gently kisses her and the women coo their approval.

"We'll be rockin it, all night long...  
We'll be droppin it, till the break of dawn...  
There's no stoppin it, once the freak is on...  
Is on, and on, and on and on...  
We'll be rockin it, all night long...  
We'll be droppin it, till the break of dawn...  
There's no stoppin it, once the freak is on...  
Is on, and on, and on and on...  
I never waited for that special one;  
I thought I'd settle for a setting sun.  
Tonight's the night we get this party on...  
And on, and on, and on and on and on.  
I never waited for that special one;  
I thought I'd settle for a setting sun.  
Tonight's the night we get this party on...  
And on, and on, and on and on and on.  
Special one, setting sun..." Tess finishes as Evan kisses her again and pulls her close to him and whispers in her ear, as her family cheers over their performance. "Marry me Tess?" he says as he takes the ring from his pocket and kisses her.

"What?" she responds as the room's noise level gently falls.

"Would you do me the honor of promising that our lives will always be intertwined?" he says as he gets down on one knee. As soon as he gets into the position the room falls quiet. Josh passes a quick look at Jed and he nods, and Josh nods in return.

Tess looks at him with utter disbelief, and begins to nod her head. "Yes, YES! I will marry you!"

Everyone shouts and screams as Evan slips the ring on her finger, she begins to cry.

"No tears," he whispers as he hugs her.

"Good ones, I promise," she whispers back.

If a stranger had walked by they wouldn't have understood but because it was the Bartlett clan, it didn't matter because they all understood.


	12. Deja vu all over again

Four months had come and gone since that night, and yet again Tess and Evan were walking to her apartment, that they now shared. Both of them were carrying groceries and Tess arrived at the door first and unlocked it and they entered together as he leaned over the grocery bags and kisses her as she stops at the table in the foyer to put her keys down.

"Ahem," came from the living room.

Before she even turned around she mumbled, "Not again." As she turns around and sees Charlie and Toby sitting in her living room, again. She looks at them and says, "No! Not again! I can not do this again!" as she tears up.

"It's not Jed, Tess," Charlie says quietly as he looks up at her with a tear stained face.

"If it's not Grandpa Jed, why… who…?" she says as she trails off with a waiver in her voice.

"Tess, it's Leo," Toby says as a tear rolls out of the corner of his eye.

"Is he…?" she trails off again as Evan comes up from behind her and kisses the top of her head and rubs her shoulders.

"Yea," Charlie replies, "Last night. Margaret found him, she walked into their room and found him on the side of the bed. By the time the ambulance arrived there was no hope."

"No hope?" Evan said choking on the words as Tess collapses in tears in his arms.

"No," was all she could say, quietly and over.

"Where is he going to be buried?" Evan asks as she leads Tess to the couch and sits with her on his lap, her tears making a wet mark on his work shirt that he was still wearing.

"Arlington," Charlie replied.

"When is everyone getting here?" Tess managed to choke out before she dissolved back to the sobs.

"Tomorrow, Sam and Josh and everyone have to finish the thing tonight and then they're coming back, there will be a car to get you tomorrow at about 10 a.m. to bring you to the house, okay?"

"Okay," Evan responds for the both of them as he disentangles himself from Tess and walks them to the door.

Charlie walks out the door and starts down the hall as Toby lingers at the door with Evan. Toby looks over Evan's shoulder back at Tess and looks at Evan again and sighs.

"She's the baby," he says slowly. "He and… Leo and Jed were always worried the most about her; they worried about how she would take it if one of them died. She is the baby of the group really, she's our miracle." Toby stopped and sighed again watching Tess convulse in sobs on the couch. "Take care of her."

"I will," Evan whispered as he watched Toby and Charlie walk down the hall.

He came back in and looked back at Tess and saw noticed that she wasn't sobbing anymore. She was still curled up on the couch only now she was only slightly crying and as he got closer he realized that she had cried her self to sleep. He looked at her and his heart broke, he hated the idea of her crying and him not being able to stop it, looked at her and leaned over to pick her up and as she adjusted to being in his arms he looks down at her tear stained face and fought as hard as he could for his tears not to fall.


	13. Evan's Test

Tess looked back between her parents and her fiancé. She clutched on to Evan's hand and it was his arm that supported her as they stood in Arlington Cemetery, watching the burial of a military hero. Tess hadn't known that Leo was in Vietnam, none of the kids did, not even Andrew or Paige until the burial that day. They all stood where they were told and did as they were supposed to. Tess hated to watch her adoptive grandfather and her dad's hearts break as they watched the man they both respected lowered into the ground. Josh stood with Margaret and Donna stood with their children, understanding that Leo had acted as Josh's father since his own father died during the first campaign. Donna stood between Noah and Chris, leaning on them to get her through this. CJ had turned into Toby's shoulder and had been sobbing. Tess stood with Carley and Evan as they lowered the casket. They all they could do was stare at the empty space. How could Leo be gone?

Later they all stood at the White House. The black of their clothing added to the quiet desperation of the group. Tess sat by a window staring out into the quiet white of another D.C. winter curled up in a chair and Evan sat on the arm. Josh came over and looked at her for a long moment.

"Daddy?" she said her voice breaking. She had given up on make-up this week, every time she wore it she ended up destroying it by crying. Looking up at her father she looked like a baby to him.

"Tinkerbelle?" he whispered kneeling in front of her taking her hands in his.

She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck and started crying, and he did the same. It was the first time all week he had let himself breakdown in front of someone other then Donna.

"I miss him," he cried.

"I do too," she said back.

Evan began rubbing her back to calm her down. She hadn't eaten in a week and he knew that if she didn't calm down she wouldn't be eating anything today either. As Donna approached the group she sat on the floor next to Josh and let her head rest on his shoulder as she did the same for him as Evan did for Tess, rubbing his back. Her eyes connected with Evan's and he nodded, knowing that no words needed to be exchanged between the two of them. If God was testing him then he was passing, Donna thought. When Josh and Tess had calmed down she stood up and Evan stood with her. She cocked her head towards the buffet and he followed her. When they arrived she handed him a plate and began, "She's stubborn and likes getting what she wants she got that from her father and Jed. She loves you and that's good enough for me but the rest of them… they thought that you needed to be tested and couldn't figure out a good enough plan. This was not what they wanted." She paused as she filled her plate and looked at the young man standing with her thunderstruck. "You passed. It was a crappy test but you have stood by her and done what was needed of you for the past week. She is a tough one to crack and the fact that Toby said she went into your arms that night means a lot to him. They are all over protective of her." She paused again. She put down her plate and took his out of his hands and leaned to him and engulfed him in a hug, "What I mean is welcome to the family."


	14. The dress

Author's note: I realized that the timeline here gets a little foggy. So here it is:

Chapters 1-11 are timed in late September of 2034, Chapter 12 is about the 29th of January in 2035, and Chapter 13 is February 4th of the same year. This chapter takes place in June of 2035. Just keep that in mind.

* * *

Another five months passed rather quickly. Tess and Carley graduated from college and had their birthdays. Everyone was older and wiser, and missing Leo when it caught up to them.

Wedding preparations were underway for that coming September. Tess was preparing to have her wedding at the church that she was baptized at. So many trips up to New Hampshire and back were happening. She was busy and it was getting crazy, she still wasn't sure how she was going to pull this wedding off in two months though she knew that many of the women she grew up with had not even had that much time to plan their weddings. Her mother had done it in two weeks on the Santos campaign trail. And that was amazing. Zoë had done it in a month and the only reason they stalled that long was because she wanted to make sure Charlie's sister, Deena, would be home for it. She shouldn't complain, they took about a year to plan it. All of them were ready for the wedding.

Tess was in the dress shop in D.C. having yet another fitting on the dress. This time her mom and CJ were going to see it as well.

The older women were sitting around with Carley waiting for Tess to emerge from the dressing room. When she did both CJ and Donna had tears in their eyes and Carley squealed.

"That's my baby," Donna whispered, as Tess appeared in the white silken ball gown. She was wearing her hair in the natural curls that formed and she smiled at her mom. The dress was a full length strapless ball gown with light blue flowers embroidered along the bust and the bottom.

"Tess! This is amazing!" Carley said from the side of her.

"Try on your dress," Tess demanded.

"Okay," Carley said as she walked out to the dressing rooms.

"Therese," Donna said as she came behind her daughter. "Are you going to have a veil?"

"Yea, it's simple tulle with the same blue edging."

As they are talking about it the shop keeper comes in with the veil.

"How are you doing your hair?" she asked.

"Half up."

"Okay, like this then?"

She fusses with Tess' hair for a second, and then it was pulled off her face with only a few curls escaping and the back tucked in with bobby pins. The veil came over her face and CJ and Donna began crying again. Carley enters and stands next to Tess in the blue bridesmaid dress. Spaghetti straps and a floor length ball gown. Donna whips out her camera to take pictures. The two babies of the group, the youngest of their children, younger then some of the grandchildren. They stood next to each other and Donna and CJ shared a look, the look that two mothers can only share, and two women who spent their lives together watching these two young women who grew up together mature to where they are today. They weren't their little girls anymore, and though they would always be their babies and they would always be their daddies' princesses it was sooner or later that both of them would be someone's wife, Tess sooner then later. And that was it. The tears came hard.

It was a few hours later at a café in down the block from the boutique when Donna's cell phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered. "Hey Annie, yea CJ and Carley, and Tess why?" she asked looking worried. Tess signaled for the waitress and handed her a credit card. CJ watched Donna, lightly gripping her hand. "Okay," Donna whispered, "We'll leave now. Bye." "Jed?" CJ asked, already knowing the answer. "Yea," Donna said trying to fight the tears brimming in her eyes. As Tess signed for the check she looked up at her mother, "Grandpa Jed?"

Her mother looked at her and nodded as the tears finally streamed down from her eyes. "Okay then, let's go," Tess responded as she stood up and reached for her mother's hand.


	15. Impromptu

It was three days later and Josh stood on the Bartlett front porch in a navy suit. He looked out over the lake and sighed.

"Daddy?" said a voice from the doorway, "you ready?"

He turned around to face his daughter, his baby. There she stood looking up at him in the white outfit she had chosen for that day. Her long curly hair, inherited only from him, was tied atop her head and had tendrils falling down framing her face. Her clothing was not the dress that she had shown her mother and CJ just a few days before, no, this was simpler. She wore a tea length white silken tulle skirt that had some sort of silver shine to it coming from the fabric, a white sweater set, the cardigan only three quarter sleeved and the camisole underneath matching perfectly, and of course in only the way Tess could she wore white bejeweled flip flops. She smiled at him.

"Wow baby!" he said as he approached her and kissed her forehead. "You look like an angel. Evan doesn't know how lucky he is."

"Yes he does," she says as she bounds down the front stairs, "I tell him."

"I'm sure you do," he says as he catches up with her and they begin the walk around the house. Josh looks skeptically at his youngest. "Look we've had this code worked out since Molly got married and I'm passing it on to you. If you want out either before or after you get up there you just tug on each ear, and we'll get you out of there. No questions asked."

"Daddy!" Tess said looking at her father with utter disbelief.

"I'm just saying…"

"I know Daddy," Tess conceded.

"I love you, princess."

"I love you too."

"My baby girl is all grown up."

"I'm still your baby."

"Promise me?" Josh said stopping before they reached around the side of the house.

"I promise, promise," she looked at her dad with nothing but the truth radiating from the big blue eyes she had, "forever and always."

"Are you ready?"

"I am"

"Let's get you married," they turned the corner and saw the entire family standing waiting for her arrival. Donna was waiting for Josh at the end of the aisle. There when Tess stood in front of the judge and across from Evan, the judge finally opened his mouth.

"Who gives this woman to this man?" he asked.

"We do," the entire left side of the audience said.

"They do," Tess whispered to Evan as they both giggled.

And the ceremony went off without a hitch, and later that evening at the reception, Tess was sitting at the table in the fading light of the early evening. Carley was dancing with her boyfriend, Jake, who was making her laugh and Tess smiled at them. She had introduced Jake and Carley years before, while they were freshman in college, it was amazing that it took them this long to get together. Carter approaches her from the house and taps her on the shoulder.

"Our grandfather wants you to go dance."

"Will you dance with me?"

"Of course," he says as he offers his hand. As they dance she smiles at Jed from the dance floor. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you," she said as she blushed, the long silence was beginning to get uncomfortable when he looked at her smirked.

"Do we really have to do this again in two weeks?" he asked trying to hide a smirk.

"Yes," she says pretending to be outraged.

"Why?" he whines.

"Because not everyone could be here."

"Everyone seems to be here."

"Not all of his family, or our friends could be here."

"Are those people really all _that _important?"

"CARTER!" Tess said lightly slapping his chest with the back of her hand.

"What?" he laughed. "All of us were here."

"I know, but," she trails off.

"But? But what Therese?"

"I want the other wedding too, the one I've spent my life planning, the one in the church with the big dress and all of that."

"So what's this?"

"A trial run"

"Why?"

"Because, Grandpa Jed saw everyone else up there, but not me or Carley, and I couldn't be in a club that was just me and her."

"So you're letting her take it alone?"

"I was ready, I planned this with Grandpa Jed being here, I wanted him here," Tess said quietly.

"He's leaving Tess," Carter whispers looking at her carefully.

"I know," she said as the tears began to flow down her cheeks.

"It'll be fine, Therese, I promise you, it'll be fine," he said as the song ended and he kissed her cheek.

"No, it won't," Tess said as they stepped away from each other and one of her surrogate older brothers cupped her face.

And as Carter Seaborn held Therese Lyman-Leahy up so she wouldn't collapse to the dance floor at her wedding, Abbigail Bartlett cried out as the buzzer rang saying that her husband of sixty years had died.


	16. fash back

The italizzed part is a flash back, and all of this is in Tess' POV.

* * *

I am twenty-three years old damn it! I'll smoke a cigarette if I want to!

Okay maybe I'm not twenty-three… yet.

I'm close

Three weeks away.

So that's close enough

I don't get carded any more and as much as my parents and god parents and aunts and uncles deny it I am an adult.

And after the week I've had… I deserve a damn cigarette.

I haven't done this since I was seventeen.

It was that summer, and in the same place, the same people with me, all of it.

Identical moments four years apart.

Okay, three years eleven months and a week…

Because it was my birthday last time…

_

* * *

__Tess and Carley are outside the farm house. Staring up at the stars and just letting the tears fall from their eyes. They had only arrived in New Hampshire four hours before and they had already been kicked out of the house. The adults kicked them out when Jed to the end of his rope, anytime they thought they were looking at a dying man. This wasn't the first night they had been kicked out of the house, and if God was with them at all it wouldn't be the last. So there they were, Carley and Tess sitting on the grass and it was then they heard the older kids in the barn, they looked up to the barn, the now empty barn, Grandpa Jed kept saying they were going to refurbish to a den for the grandkids. So it was empty and Tess and Carley looked at each other, they knew what was going on in there, and they were old enough to be there now, that's how old her siblings were when they got to be a big kid, and it was their turn. So they walked up to the barn door that was half open. Tess opened the door a little more and everyone froze. She turns and looks at Carley who tugs her arm, "What?" she hisses at her. _

"_Therese Sophia Grace, what are you doing here?" Noah looked at her like he was going to ring her neck. _

"_Noah James you know that you always said that I would be stopped being counted as a baby the day I turned eighteen. Well guess what Noah I'm eighteen," she says as she moves into the room with Carley right behind._

"_Not yet you're not!" Noah says as he puts his beer down and folding his arms as he walks toward her. _

"_Umm, Noah?" Tenley says after checking Chris' watch._

"_Not now Tenley! Therese! You are not…" _

"_Noah! I swear to God!" Joanie says as she laughs_

"_Joanie this isn't the time or place." _

"_Hey Tess!" Paige calls as she pushes past Noah. _

"_Yes Paige?" Tess says as Paige approaches her_

"_Happy eighteenth," Paige says as she envelopes her in a hug_

"_Thank you!" _

"_Happ… Tess…" Noah stutters out. _

"_Noah James I swear, you sound more like out father every day," Tess says as she smiles at him._

"_No, Joanie she's not, eighteen yet," Noah says._

"_Actually Noah, as of ten minutes ago it is her birthday," Chris says studying his watch._

"_Ten minutes? My watch says it's only quarter of."_

"_Noah," Joanie starts with a laugh, "you're watch sucks."_

"_What?"_

"_Look at you cell phone," Joanie says as she kisses Tess on the forehead. Noah takes out his cell and looks at the clock on the screen. _

"_Huh," he says biting his lip._

"_I swear to God, you get more like Dad every day."_

_Huck is hanging back with Molly, they are watching the 'younger ones' coo over Tess being now one of the big kids. Tess pulls out of the group and walks up to Molly. _

"_What's going on?" Tess says as she stands between the two of them. "You're not allowed to grow up," Huck states._

"_What?" Tess says looking between the two of them._

"_You are the baby, you aren't allowed to grow up," Molly says as she turns to Tess with a drink._

"_What's this?" Tess says as she accepts it._

"_If you're going to roll with us, you do like us," Huck says._

_Molly rolls her eyes, "What my incredibly stupid brother means is that if you're going to act like us then you are going to act like us."_

"_Fine," Tess takes the drink from Molly's hand and takes a sip. "Is this lemonade?"_

"_Hard Lemonade, you can't really taste the alcohol," Huck says as he wraps an arm around Tess._

_After a long time all of the kids being heading out to the lawn, Tess is laying on the grass watching the sky. Chris and Tenley sit down next to her._

"_What are you thinking about Tinkerbelle?" Chris asks watching his baby sister's face as she takes in the wonder of the stars._

"_Do you think… I mean… do you think this is really it?"_

"_You mean do you think he'll die tonight?" Tenley asks her as she watches Tess' face._

"_Yea," Tess says as the tears start rolling out of her eyes._

"_Aw, Tess," Chris says taking his sister into his arms. "He's a strong guy."_

"_That doesn't mean…" Tess says._

"_You're right," Andrew says as he comes and lies down next to her. "It doesn't mean he won't die tonight, but it does mean that he loves us more then anything, and that he'll want us to be strong no matter what."_

"_Yea," Tess says still looking up and sniffling. _

"_You want a cigarette?" Carter asks as he approaches the group._

"_I thought you quit," Tess says as she arches her back so she can see the young man behind her._

"_Yea well, I'm stressed," Carter says_

"_You're mother is going to kill you," Chris says as he takes a cigarette from Carter. _

"_Not as much as both of our mothers will kill you if you get my sister pregnant before your married," Chris says as he offers one to Tess, who looks up and accepts the cigarette and plays with it._

"_Have you ever done this before?" Noah asks Tess as he watches her and lights the cigarette he has hanging between his lips and then bends down to light his sister's cigarette._

"_Once," Tess says dejectedly_

"_You need to find new friends," Ben says as he settles on to the grass on the other side of Chris and Tenley._

"_You know your sister is one of my best friends," Tess says as she brings her knees up to her chest and hugs them as she flicks the cigarette and brings it to her mouth._

_Molly looks at them as she settles on the grass with them, "You know Grandpa used to smoke."_

"_Really?" Carley asks as she takes the cigarette from Tess and takes a drag._

"_I think he still does," JT says as he comes out of the barn with the CD player they kept out there, he began playing a CD that Emma had made a few weeks ago. "I found a pack in the desk in the library a few months ago."_

_And they all were lying on the lawn when the sun came up, and Jed was still there when Abbey, Donna, CJ, and Ainsley found them in the morning. And that morning they all said they would never smoke without each other._

* * *

So here they were four years later all wondering what would become of them now that the patriarch was gone, and they were all smoking, though none of them had smoked until that night, they had all thought about it. And though a few people were added to the group, Carter still supplied the cigarettes and there they were, and JT provided the music and they were all in the same place, when the same women found them in the morning. 


	17. a wedding and a funeral

Author's Note: Okay... First off, I'm doing this chapter as a songfic. The song is Robbie Robertson's "Shine Your Light" from the Ladder 49, soundtrack. I found it appropriate, and hope you all find it so you can hear it. Secondly, Catholic Weddings and Funerals are LONG and boring and have a lot of pomp and circumstance that would take me forever and a day to write that's why we're only getting little blips of each thing... I am Catholic and have been to both and I don't think I could keep any one's attention... I know it wouldn't keep mine. The reason that it is being done in a Catholic Church is that I don't remember anyone saying if Donna was Catholic or not so I'm making her so, and making her kids raised Catholic but with Jewish traditions... CaJews if you will.

* * *

_The cry of the city like a siren's song  
Wailing over the rooftops the whole night long  
Saw a shooting star like a diamond in the sky  
Must be someone's soul passing by  
_

Tess knew what to do; she stood holding her rosary in her hand, with Evan's hand in hers and Carley to her right, with Jake on her left. She wore the sleeveless black dress and heels. They stood and began walking together, Abbey, Liz, Ellie, and Zoë were following the casket and their families behind them as they all followed and began the long walk down Madison Avenue to the Capital.

_  
These are the streets  
Where we used to run where your Papa's from  
These are the days  
Where you become what you become  
These are the streets  
Where the story's told  
The truth unfolds  
Darkness settles in_

Tess was shaking as they got on Air Force One; Evan was still holding her hand. She was in a different outfit today, three days after the walk from one end of Madison Avenue to the Capital. She and Carley sat across from one another, with the rest of the family around them, no one talking. Once the seatbelts sign went off they were called for lunch. Tess walked into the conference room and sat next to her father, both just picked at the sandwiches in front of them, not actually eating.

"You have to eat something Tess," Evan whispered in her ear.

"Nope," she said as she stood up and walked out of the room.

Evan let his head fall back on the chair; Donna reaches out and places a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll go," she says as she gets up and walks out of the room and finds Tess pacing the floor in the hallway a little ways down.

_Shine your light down on me  
Lift me up so I can see  
Shine your light when you're gone  
Give me the strength  
To carry on, carry on_

"You're going to wear a hole in the carpet," her mother says from the doorway.

Tess just rolls her eyes.

"What's wrong, Therese?"

"Can we not do this for once?"

"Do what?"

"You pretend not to know what's wrong when we both know you do know and then you get me to talk about it and then everything is okay."

"It's not going to be okay."

"Glad to see we're not all in denial."

"Who's in denial?"

"My husband, my siblings, my cousins, my aunts, and uncles, pretty much everyone on this plane but you, me and Daddy!"

"Why would everyone be in denial?"

"Because they're acting like nothing has changed."

"They're sad Tess," Donna says as she walks to her and sits down in front of her.

"No, their not! I'm sad."

"Everyone deals with grief differently."

"I can't eat, neither can Daddy, you are at least sad, everyone else… they don't get it. It's like they don't get it."

"They prepared themselves for this Tess."

"And I didn't?"

"You've had other things on your mind."

"The wedding," she whispers.

"Yea, and no one blames you at all, but everyone else saw this coming."

"I did too," Tess said pouting looking away from her mother and out the door.

"I know baby, but you were slightly distracted for the past few months."

"I'm supposed to give a eulogy."

"Yea, I know."

"What do I say? I mean, everyone knows…"

"Talk about your time with him, Tess. Something that was personally him and you, tell us about that."

"Yea, I don't know," Tess says leaning her head against the wall near her.

"You have to eat something."

"Mom!"

"You do, I can't having you fainting at the pulpit."

"Fine, I don't know what I can eat but…"

"Pudding, hold on."

Donna disappears for a few minutes and Tess begins to nod off to sleep when her mother reappears holding a snack pack.

"Here, butterscotch, your favorite."

"How'd they…"

"You Uncle Toby was a secret snack pack fiend, anytime he's on board Sam makes sure there are some on board."

"Oh," Tess takes the pudding pack and opens it and begins to eat it. "Thank you."

"It's what moms do."

Tess nods and Donna sits next to her in the quiet and as she eats the pudding Donna rubs her back and smiles.

It was that Thursday when Tess actually gave the eulogy, the last one, the only one at the actual funeral.

_  
Don't want to be a hero  
Just an everyday man  
Trying to do the job the very best he can  
But now it's like living on borrowed time  
Out on the rim, over the line  
Always tempting fate like a game of chance  
Never want to stick around to the very last dance  
Sometimes I stumble and take a hard fall  
Loose hold your grip off the wall  
_

Tess took a deep breath and walked up to the lectern. She took a shaky breath and smiled at the family gathered in front of her.

"I never met either of my biological grandfathers," Tess started. "My father's father died almost twenty years before I was born. And my mother's father died while she was pregnant with my eldest brother. So when Josiah Bartlett adopted us into his family, because we were grandfather-less, it meant something. It also helped that my father was his Deputy Chief of Staff, and Grandpa Jed won the pool about when my parents would finally get together.

Grandpa Jed was an amazing man, and I only knew him for the last twenty one years of his life. We were two of a kind, and people were never sure if my stubborn streak was genetically inherited from my father or a nurturing thing from Grandpa Jed. The twenty five of us, grandchildren, and great grandchildren all grew up on the farm, we were taught things you could never even attempt to learn the things he taught us in school. We learned public speaking skills at age four; but that's what learning Shakespeare will do to you. Our vocabularies were expanded far beyond what any teacher thought was possible; I think Sarah was the only kindergartener I knew that could use the word pontificate. We learned how to try to play an instrument; I think that orchestra was a little out of his reach no matter what he believed. We learned how to appease our parents, and what buttons to push. We learned what stories to ask from whom, and who not to bring certain things up in front of. We learned that love isn't something that is solely contained to blood lines, that it comes in all shapes and sizes, and that family comes in those different ways too. We learned to accept each other for our short comings and our long jumps, for our differences and our similarities, not in spite of anything, because loving someone in spite of something was like not loving them at all.

We learned how to tie our shoes, how to ride horses, how to swim, how to play basketball, how to recite Shakespeare in iambic pentameter, how to speak in front of dignitaries, how to keep our mouths shut on all the secrets we knew, how to sneak into a room, how to smoke cigarettes, how to deal with hangovers, how to make up with people, how to fight with and with out our hands, and we learned how to dance. We learned forgiveness; we learned how to say I'm sorry, and we learned that no matter what, family comes first, and that all of us are family. But most of all we learned love, what it means, how to accept it, and how to give it.

Josiah Bartlett taught his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren what it meant to be loved by someone besides your parents and siblings unconditionally. There were two things that we knew about Grandpa Jed when we did something wrong, one was that he'd forgive us, he'd put us to work but, he'd forgive us. The other was that he probably already knew. He loves us, no matter what. He shines down on us now. I can just see him being greeted Uncle Leo, and a wonderful woman, named Delores Landingham, whom I never met but have been told amazing stories about. Uncle Leo would say something like "Jed, you'll never believe it! You'll never guess who I had lunch with!" and according to my parents and aunts and uncles, and yes even my grandmother, Mrs. Landingham would look at Grandpa Jed and say, "Jed, you took long enough getting here, I was worried you wouldn't make it at all. I saw all you did down there, and it was good, and it was right, and you should be proud of yourself Jed Bartlett, I am." And so are we Mrs. Landingham, and so are we. Thank you."

_  
Shine your light down on me  
Lift me up so I can see  
Shine your light when you're gone  
Give me the strength to carry on  
Carry on_

And two weeks after the funeral Tess was standing in the back of the church at her college campus waiting for Carley to make her way up the aisle, Josh stood beside her again only this time it was the dress that she had picked out with her mother all those months before. She smiled at Josh and looked up the aisle to her husband. Granted this was just for show, well show and the Catholic Church, but it was still… damn those butterflies. So this was the real… this is what they had spent the last six months planning and now they were doing this the right way. So she walked down the aisle and all the faces that were those of her family, her friends, her husband's family, and his friends. She smiled and as she passed Abbey and the girls she passed her eyes over the spot between Ellie and Abbey. Abbey smiled at her and mouthed 'love you' to Tess who passed and smiled. As she arrives at the front of the church she smiles at Evan. Josh lifts her veil and kisses her on the cheek, and he shakes Evan's hand. Tess takes Evan's arm and she smiles at him as the priest begins the ceremony._  
_

_I thought I saw him walking by the side of the road  
Maybe trying to find his way home_

It was later that day. Everyone was on the dance floor and Tess was dancing with JT, when the DJ stopped and everyone looked up to him. When Tess finally turned to the DJ stand she was surprised to see all of her female cousins standing there.

"Uh-oh," Tess says and then JT started laughing and there is dawning that happens on her face. She pushes him as he continues to chuckle. "You were supposed to distract me."

"Yup, come on lets get up there," JT says as he drags her to the front of the room.

"Tess darling this is for you and Evan," Carley announces from the stage.

Evan walks up and winds his arms around the Tess' waist. "What are they doing?" he whispers as she starts laughing and the music starts.

"A tribute," Tess says as she leans back into her husbands arms and "The Jackal" begins to play.

He's here but not here  
He's gone but not gone  
Just hope he knows if I get lost

It was another three weeks before Tess and Evan walked into their apartment again. Tess shrieked as Evan swept her off her feet and into his arms as he carried her over the threshold. She laughed and he dumped her on the couch and he leans over her giggling form and kisses her.

"That's the first time in almost a month I've heard you laugh like that," he says between kisses.

"It's been tough," she says holding his face in her hands she kisses him gently. He nods and sits still for a moment. Then he sits on the other end of the couch and pulls her into his lap, and they sit with his head resting on her head.

"Thank you," she whispers as she leans in to his chest.

"For what?" he asks with a chuckle.

"Being there, this is one hell of an initiation into this family of mine, but you were there and you stayed by my side through it all," she says as she pulls back and looks at him.

"I'm here forever Tess, it's you and me always, I'll be there no matter what happens," he says and then he smiles at her and laughs, "You can't get rid of me." He takes her left hand and his left hand and intertwines them so both of their rings are shining in the light.

"Good," she said before settling back against his chest with his face buried in his hair.

_  
Shine your light down on me  
Lift me up so I can see  
Shine your light when you're gone  
Give me the strength to carry on  
To carry on_


End file.
